Title: Chapter 30 Endogenous opioids and pain: status of human studies and new treatment concepts
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the status of human studies and new treatment concepts for endogenous opioids and pain. Stress and stimulation of appropriate brain areas can produce analgesia, which can be at least partially reversed by naloxone, thus implicating endogenous opioids. It has been suggested that while levels of endogenous opioids in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) may reflect function in the modulation of pain, it is unlikely that plasma levels reflect any such role. The endogenous opioids themselves have no apparent clinical utility as analgesics. Intrathecal opioid peptides may have some advantages for limited use, particularly in obstetrics or in cases of morphine tolerance in chronic pain states. A tightly binding but labile peptide analog with short circulating life may have significant advantage for intrathecal use. The chapter focuses on the status of efforts to develop new clinically effective analgesic agents based on the endogenous opioid systems.
Publication Year: 1988
Publication Date: 1988-01-01
Language: en
Type: review
Indexed In: ['crossref', 'pubmed']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 12
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot